IT has been too common with those who value not what they say , whether true or false , so it answers their end ; to supply the want of Argument with false Accusations and opprobrious Terms , and to endeavour to stifle the Truth with Confusion and Incoherency : Yet tho' the Vulgar may be so misled , I wonder the Answerer should think to impose upon the Wisdom of Parliament by such trifling : But if he have not a Talent to do otherwise , that cannot be helpt , only then he should forbear coming out in Print .

Several things he affirms which are false in Fact , As that the Sugar-Refiners contriv'd and procur'd the laying on the New Duty on Sugar in King James's Reign , that the Barbadoes White Sugar is cleaner and better purg'd than our refin'd Sugar , and that one Pound of the former sweetens almost twice as much as the latter , &c. and all along his Arguments are of no Weight , or conclude against himself , as I shall briefly show .

He says , 't is the Sugar-Bakers of London and Bristol that make all this noise , but it is known there are Sugar-houses in Newcastle , York , Chester , Leverpool , Worcester , Plimouth , Exeter , &c. and would be many more every where if the Manufacture were encourag'd , as it is highly the Interest of England so to do . But it is true , London and Bristol are the chief Ports for Exportation of that as well as other Commodities , but when Exeter Petitions for the Improvement of their Woolen Manufacture , or Norwich for their Stuffs , or Sudbury for their Sayes , or the Weavers in London for their Silks , according to this Gentleman's Argument , 't is not the general Interest of England ; and he would think it enough to overthrow their Petitions , by saying 't is Exeter makes all this Noise , or Norwich , or Sudbury , or London that makes all this Noise . Indeed if Noise only would answer Reason , this Gentleman may answer any thing , for it is little else he uses : He seems angry that we say our Manufacture is of antient standing , and yet in answer says nothing but to prove that it is so , and says himself that there were Refining-Houses in England before our Plantations fell to making of Sugar . That the Sugar Refiners here employ great numbers of People he does not deny , but says , that for one Man they employ , the Plantations employ an hundred , and would here and in other places insinuate that what we seek is against the Interest of the Plantations , which is the blind by which some few concerned in a small part only of one of the Plantations would mislead such as take things upon their word , without examining and considering the matter ; for the Sugar-Plantations are Jamaica , Nevis , Antego , Monseratt , and St. Christophers as well as Barbadoes ; and of Barbadoes it self the greatest part do not clay their Sugars , and what is the Interest of the Sugar-Refiners here , is plainly the interest of all the Sugar-Plantations , unless that small part of Barbadoes which clay their Sugars , for the more the Refiners here are encouraged , the greater price and brisker Market will the Muscovado Sugar always find here , and it is entirely the Interest of England to have the Product of their Plantations manufactured here at home by our own People , who thereby encrease the Strength and Wealth of England , eating and wearing the product of their own Country , rather than by Negroes abroad , the great Number whereof in the Plantations do rather hazard than add to their safety .

The next thing he attacques is , what is said in the Sugar-Refiners Paper , That formerly they exported great quantities of White Sugars , which has for ten Years past been taken away by Forreigners . This he does not deny , and in Answer declares , That the Sugar-Refiners contrived , promoted and procured the High Duty upon Sugar in K. James's Reign , which is utterly false in fact ; but some People think that the confident affirmation of a thing will pass for proof : And it is absurd to imagine , that they should contrive and promote a thing so prejudicial to themselves , which did immediately destroy part of their own Manufactury , by taking away their Forreign Trade . So that all his Reflections from that Head must fall upon himself .

He says Loaf-Sugar from the Plantations pays 16 s . per C. with . and by that means the Sugar-Refiners have got a Monopoly of that sort of Sugar ; and so by thrusting in there , and in other parts of his Paper the odious and frightful term Monopoly , ( tho' he seems not to understand what it means ) he thinks he has given them their Deaths-wound . I thought Monopoly had properly signified the buying , or selling , or making any Commodity by one Man , or one stock only ; but by this Gentleman's quaint way of arguing , what is done in England only is a Monopoly , tho' all the People in England are or may be concerned separately and apart therein , which is too gross to take place . It is true , the Parliament imposed 16 s . per C. with . on Loaf-Sugar fom the Plantations , and no doubt therein consider'd , that it was most beneficial to England to manufacture their own Commodities in England , by their own People , who add to their own strength , and spend their own Product , as before has been said .

And now the Answerer quits all Modesty , when he affirms so notorious a Falsity , that the Barbadoes Refin'd Sugar is the best in the World , and the English refin'd Sugar the worst in the World . And elsewhere he says , that the White Sugars made in the Plantations are cleaner , they working by Clay and Water , and we by Fire . And again , That the Plantation White Sugar goes almost twice as far , sweetens almost twice as much , and its relish is much more delicious .

As to the difference between our Refining and their Claying , it is true , theirs is done with Clay and Water , and ours is clarify'd with Eggs , and afterwards strain'd thro' Broad cloth , and so refin'd , as he says , with Fire , which he will not allow to Purge as well as their Clay and Lime ; wherein he shews himself as bad a Philosopher as his arguing shows him a Logician , or indeed a Man of common sense ; for all the World knows , that nothing purifies or refines so well as Fire , and the goodness and cleanness of our Refin'd Sugar is seen by its constant use in Thea , which would soonest show its Impurity , if any were . And instead of being weaker and fowler than Barbadoes White Sugar , it is quite the contrary , as is undeniably evinc'd by the Confectioners , and all others who require the strongest and cleanest Sugar for their Candying and other uses , and for that Reason they prefer and use our Refin'd Sugar before the Barbadoes White Sugar . It is true , we must make and sell a courser sort of Sugar to them that desire it , and it cannot be expected that a low price should purchase Sugar of the same goodness as a higher price .